the diving begins ...

[thelawgoddess]

last night was my first pool session. afterwards people keep asking me if i had fun. i'm thinking to myself -- that was supposed to be fun? well, some of it was fun ... and some of it was frustrating and/or freaky (and not in the best sense of that word). i am generally a pretty athletic and aggressive person who loves adventure and overachieving ... but i also like to breathe using my nose. :-( i couldn't do the remove and replace mask; i couldn't do the out of air exercise (and in my defense, i think i had been shivering for so long that my brain was no longer functioning properly); and i couldn't go down and swim around at the deep end with everybody because my ear would start to hurt every time i inched further down. i felt like a real retard after class. i remember the instructor coming over and signaling that she was out of air, at which point i proceeded to remove my own regulator and throw it aside. oops. i put it back in when she shook her head and wasn't handing me her octo. she then started giving me a series of hand signals, which i'm sure were simple but at the time seemed like a very comlicated language that i could make no sense of whatsoever. it was all i could do to mimic her sign-for-sign or give her signals i knew belonged in the exercise sequence ... albeit without any regard to the actual sequence. i really think a monkey would have done much better. and by the time they [finally] let us out of the pool, all i wanted to do was go home, wrap as many blankets around myself as i could find, and cuddle with my kitty cat until i fell asleep and the world was a nice dry warm place again.

so ... everybody says it gets better and easier ... but did any of you have similar apprehensive experiences when you started?

for lunch, i think i should go re-read tsandm's diving journal and medidate about me being one with the water.

[Tangfish]

It only gets better from here

My least favorite skill exercise was the mask removal. I thought I'd never have to do it again after OW, then I realized that as a DM now, there is much demonstration to be done

Don't worry girl, you'll do fine!

[sparky]

Lawgoddess:

Dont let these little things worry you Hon. I rember my pool exersises all to well, mind you i am a good strong swimer and even have competed a few times in my youth. but the 5 min of treading water was a killer

I still have trouble four years and 150 dives later with the drill of switching from my reg. to my snorkle while keeping my face in the water I forget to clear the snorkle most of the times and offten find I have a mouth full of sea water.

by the way on a same note for open water as a PADI diver you are required to make the pool setion and four open water dives with your instructor

I did ok in the pool but it took me 6 dives with my instructor to get all my skill down I could not keep my mask from flooding and that is a real problem for me I have such poor eye sight I ware contacts and when my maks floods I have to keep my eyes closed or lose my contacts

so I have to do the clear mask drill blind because with out my contacts I am blinded ( cant see any thing but one big blur)

rember this is not the easyest ting in the world to learn but if you stick with it and persist it will come .

so there you have it hon we all have skills we need to work on and pratice more . keep your chin up and your Reg in youll get it

if you need any , more encouragement just let us know thats what dive buddies are for . we look after each other in more ways then you can metion


good luck and keep us posted on your progress we are rooting for you
:wav: :wav: :wav:

Sparky

[thelawgoddess]

okay; okay. i am trying to relax. *breathe in ... AND out* i took a lunch away from the office, and ate some food and read tsandm's description of her dive class experience. geez; if she can pull through all of that, i should be able to, too. so why did i feel ill on my way back to work? i did feel ill ... and more tired than i can describe. i'm sure the "ill" feeling is just my apprehension ... which is just mind over matter, right? (if only i had better control of my mind!) but i am feeling a little better now. *yawn* i sure wish i could take a nap, though!

thanks for the kind words, guys! *grin* i know i'm not the only one who's had difficulties at first, but you know how it is when it's happening to you ... especially after hoping for so long that your preconcieved difficulties were all in your head and would work themselves out in those "safe" confines instead of coming to fruition when you got in the water. i really tried to envision myself being a total natural and so good at all of this that my instructors would give me some kind of medal. (well, that's not exactly what i envisioned; but i did try to think positive things.) sparky, i'm especially glad to hear from someone who is really comfortable in the water because i am most definitely not.

i wore my thin wakeboarding shorty last night. it was entirely insufficient. i am going to wear my 5/3 windsurfing semi-dry tonight and hope that it keeps me warm enough to at least keep my brain functional. *ugh*

also, i'm thinking i should walk around with noseplugs and a snorkel during the day to get me used to breathing through my mouth. i'm not sure my colleagues would appreciate that. actually, they might appreciate that ... a little too much. *lol*

[Tangfish]

thelawgoddess, I wouldn't wear that semi-dry if it has wrist and neck seals and actually keeps you mostly dry. The reason why is that you'll experience a 'squeeze', which is remedied with inflation on scuba dry suits. If it is indeed a 'wet' semi-dry, then you should be fine.

My brother once gave me a dry suit that was used for jet skiing and I took one look and realized there was no way in heck that I could use it for diving.

About the apprehension and nervousness getting started. I don't want to beat it to death but:

I was actually not a fan of the ocean, or water for that matter, prior to diving. My first memory in life was drowning, which I remember as a toddler in crystal clarity. I also get terribly seasick. Because of this fear/aversion of the ocean and water, I was sent on assignment by a magazine I contributed to, to overcome the fear by getting OW certified. Of course, I was in the tropical water so it was a bit more welcoming, but I had the fear and difficulties nonetheless. I hated the feeling of not being able to see when removing the mask and putting it back on, getting the water in the nose, etc. However, after plunging into the ocean and seeing that you could come face to face with the life there, I was hooked forever.

Now, I find myself more comfortable drifting along with the fishies than I do at a cocktail party, rubbing shoulders with shakers and movers.

[thelawgoddess]

*ha, ha, ha* that was great, calvin. thanks! it is nice to hear you were able to overcome your fear of the water. i would never have guessed you had such an aversion (seeing how involved you are in the sport). i was (and still am) hoping scuba diving will rectify at least some of my own apprehension of the water.

ps - my semi-dry is definitely not a drysuit and i would never use it for diving. it does have "seals" per se, but the ankles can be left unzipped and unvelcroed, and the neck can also be left unvelcroed (or even off of my neck altogether). and i also have really long hair i can stuff into the neck to make it leak nicely. :-)

[Joshua Smith]

Yeah, Calvin is defenitely part fish- I have trouble believing he ever had a problem with the water! All I can add is this: Don't overthink it. Don't build stuff up in your mind until it becomes an insurmountable obstacle. Try to relax, and just keep breathing (except for when they make you take out your reg- but even then, they want you to blow bubbles, so you're still "exhaling".

You'll be fine.

[thelawgoddess]

Don't overthink it. Don't build stuff up in your mind until it becomes an insurmountable obstacle. Try to relax, and just keep breathing

hmm; seems i've heard this before. and by before, i mean BEFORE i even began my scuba class.
it is my nature to overthink EVERYTHING and make it into something of an all or nothing endeavor! ](*,)

maybe scuba will help me with that, too!

[BASSMAN]

I just had a friend who justed finnished his OW last weekend.
We had a simular discussion.when he did his first pool dive he freaked out and was all about to give up the whole thought of scuba diving.

I got wierded out going under for the first few minutes.
It realy becomes a trust issue!

He almost threw up when they asked him to remove his Reg and then clear it.
He got out of the pool and was getting ready to leave when one of the dive masters talked to him and calmed him down.

He got back in the pool and now he is 100% hooked on Scuba!

That first day, going under water is a strange experience for every one. ](*,)
It's not Natural! but it sure is fun once we get it!

You Go Girl!
Don't give up the dream!

[Scubak]

Don't beat yourself up over your pool sessions. Sometimes the ones that have a bit of difficulty become the best of divers...I think you will do fine. It just takes some practice since it is an unnatural thing to be breathing underwater. You will get comfortable doing all the skills. Keep at it and keep us posted.
K

[Zen Diver v1]

If it's any consolation, I too, hated the pool sessions. Struggled to stay warm, found the skill sessions boring and I couldn't remember all the signals.

That was almost 5 years ago and nearly 800 dives ago. Hang in there, OW is not fun, but necessary. Once you get thro that the real fun begins!

-Valerie

[thelawgoddess]

last night i wore my 5/3 semi-dry, and i wasn't cold at all. i actually didn't even realize i hadn’t been cold until the end of the class, and that in and of itself is amazing since i am pretty much cold most of the time. i had done equalization exercises throughout the day and tried to consciously breathe through my mouth on the drive to the shop after work. i also went over a few of the things i struggled with yesterday step-by-step in my head a few times. i think all of that really helped. as did the reassurance from everyone that it’s natural to struggle in such a foreign environment, and the encouragement that it really does get better! (thanks so much!!!)

at the beginning of the pool session last night, my buddy came over and signaled he was out of air. that caught me by surprise, but i thankfully didn’t turn into the idiot that was parading around in the pool as me the previous night. (i may be safe to dive with some day after all.) during the pool session we did a bunch of stuff, some of which i felt i was struggling with a little but my instructors seemed to think i did well enough. (i am one of those persons who likes to set ridiculously high standards for themselves.)

i found hovering i bit difficult. the instructor would tell me to add air or let air out and i would start to float and seem fine ... but all of the sudden i would just keep going, and not just keep going, but faster. it came to me at some point that i tended to hold my breath while "listening" to the instructor and adding or dumping air - until i seemed to be floating (and they would look away), at which point i would start breathing again and … well, you know.

and at the very end of class, they had me try the mask remove and replace again. i did it first try - no gagging or coughing or snorting heinous chlorinated pool water! (at least not for that exercise anyway.) yay!

i think not being so cold the whole time made a world of difference. and ... i actually think i had fun. :-)

[Tom Nic]

Way to go!

Now it's all about practice, practice, practice! And in diving, practice is a blast!

And by the way, you'll be perfecting "hovering" (buoyancy control) for a LONG TIME! Some of us STILL haven't gotten that down as well as we'd like! ](*,)

[Tangfish]

I'm really happy to hear that you had a positive experience on the heels of a challenging one. This is what builds character!

[BASSMAN]

Yay! :wav:

[thelawgoddess]

yeah; i think we will be practicing lots tonight. i wish i could take tomorrow off of work and practice more somehow ...

but i wanted to add that when i was searching for a class, i made a conscious effort to find a place that limited the number of students, and i feel incredibly fortunate to be in a very small class with enough instructors and/or assistants to make it nearly impossible to get bored or spend much time just standing around. i also feel very fortunate to have brian and jeanna as my instructors. i had a good feeling about them when i met them, and – well, you know how i said that i set ridiculously high standards for myself? yes; i also set them for everybody else ... and so far they are doing an excellent job! :-)

[sparky]

Hey lawgoddess:

You Go Girl friend next thing you know we will be adding a new species to our fish ID logs the lawgaddess Fish

Grate job glad to hear you had a good pool setion, but dont forget the most important part

H A V E F U N :wav:

rember to relax and enjoy your self that is why you got in to this in the first place. to relax

Sparky

[thelawgoddess]

ha, ha. i worked a lot last night on relaxing. i definitely felt much more comfortable in the water and breathing through foreign objects than i did two days prior. *yay* i sort of freaked out the first time we tried the mask-pass in a circle, though. but after standing up (we were most thankfully in the shallow end) and coughing up pool water for a bit i was able to give it another go and manage the next three passes to get my own mask back. *yay again*

the worst parts of the night were the underwater swim and the treading water. i am a VERY poor swimmer. and somehow i ended up being one of those people that can't float ... unless i fill my lungs with air and hold my breath. treading water has always been a nemesis, despite swim lessons in college and tips from well-meaning friends. those 10 minutes were definitely NOT fun, and while i was struggling to keep my face above the water line, brian made the mistake of thanking me for my kind words yesterday. i was having so much NOT fun, i promptly threatened to retract them. i forgot to mention that this whole treading water torture came right after more than one failed attempt to hold my breath and swim underwater for what seemed like a mile. :-( so after those 10 terrible minutes, i STILL had that swim to do. jason came over and helped zen me out with some deep breathing exercises and a couple of tips to get more speed starting and completing the swim. and then he said something about how humans can actually hold their breath for some amount of time i can't remember, and some other things about how you just needed to push through or want it or something that i also can't really remember. but anyway, off i went again and at some point i could see the fuzzy outline of the person at the end. he became like that bright light you want to go to when you're lost between this world and another. (not that i know anything about that light beyond what they potray in the movies.) i REALLY wanted to stop and stand up and breathe. i actually thought about breathing anyway and trying to keep swimming while i choked. (that didn't seem like a very nice option, and i don't think that would have satisfied my instructors either.) but then i just thought about how i did NOT want to have to do this again, and i held my breath harder (if that's possible) and began swimming as hard as i could ... until i just about ran him over. *yay ... i think*

so, that's it - done with the pool, and time for a taste of the real thing. we do our first open water dive tomorrow morning, and i am certainly apprehensive ... but i am also excited. there's a reason all of you do this. and can't be that you like wearing sausage casings and looking all macho while you carry tanks of air down the beach. ;-)

[Pez7378]

Lawgoddess, sounds like everything is going along just fine. I vaguely remember my first open water checkouts and they were a lot of fun, even though it was the dead middle of winter and very cold between dives. Just remember there is no difference between the skills you learned in the pool and doing them in the ocean. I prefer to do them in the ocean because the seawater didnt bother me as much as the chlorine. I remember with all of us new divers at seacrest that we managed to kick up a good deal of silt. I ended up alone in the middle of the muck and freaked for a brief moment. I chose a direction to swim to and low and behold ran right into the rest of the class practicing mask removal on the bottom. You are going to have so much fun.

[Joshua Smith]

This sounds a wee bit more intense than the PADI OW I took- is it NAUI you're taking? Sounds fun! And congrats on all you've accomplished so far!

[thelawgoddess]

This sounds a wee bit more intense than the PADI OW I took- is it NAUI you're taking? Sounds fun! And congrats on all you've accomplished so far!

thanks! i don't know if i feel i've accomplished much yet, but i am really happy to not be as scared of tomorrow as i thought i was going to be! and yes; i am taking a NAUI course ... and more so, i am taking it with instructors whose philosophies about scuba and teaching scuba drive them to teach above and beyond the minimums ... and keep the class size low.

and pez, i'm going to try my best not to get lost. ;-) interesting to know about the chlorine/salt - for some reason i thought the salt would bother me more ...

[BDub]

i don't know if i feel i've accomplished much yet

We haven't been to the open water yet Kaia, but give yourself some credit.

You've made huge progress since your first night.

The "mask circle" is one of the skills we do as a confidence building and mask clearing proficiency exercise in our Scuba Diver Classes. It's not a required skill, and we told Kaia she didn't "have" to do it, but encouraged her to give it a shot. She tried it, and actually did very well, but I think it got the best of her for a brief moment. She wanted to try it again, and she nailed it.

Last night we spent a majority of the evening working on trim, kicks, buoyancy, etc and Kaia was actually very solid. Granted, it was jsut the pool, but she was very quick to figure out how your lungs and breathing really affects your buoyancy.

Give yourself credit for what you've done. Go back and read your post about your first night.

This weekend is the fun part!

[thelawgoddess]

Give yourself credit for what you've done. Go back and read your post about your first night.

okay, okay - i will stop being so hard on myself and give myself some credit. ;-) i've talked to quite a few people lately who said they would never even try SCUBA!

This weekend is the fun part!

well, today was day one. we did our first three open water dives, and so far the weekend has been pretty cool. :-) i still find the whole scuba diving thing a bit creepy and scary, but those times when i could get my buoyancy more or less dialed for a little while and could just cruise along looking at everything ... i totally forgot about how creepy and scary it is! on our first dive, brian pointed out two little nudibranchs. they looked like the beautiful ones diver_dave posted (here) that was really amazing!

anyway, we did a lot today and i am really, really tired ... but here are a couple of pics i took this morning before we got to diving.


the view from alki, cove 1 early in the morning. thank heavens for the clouds ... and the good vis. *yay*


i'm not sure what they were talking about here, but brian and jeanna give great explanations and demonstrations ... and can be quite animated. *yay again*

okay; off to bed to get some rest for tomorrow!